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2017.08.12

[Memorable Passage from a Book] Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (M1 Tetsuya Hasegawa)

Hi! Today I'd like to introduce a passage from my bible "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" by Shunryu Suzuki.

Shunryu Suzuki is a Japanese Monk who was one of the first to go to California and teach the art of Zen. Steve Jobs was one of his famous followers. Along with the philosopher D. T. Suzuki, they are understood as the "Two Suzukis" who introduced Zen to the western world.

It is the last part of this book that gave me a slight shock of enlightenment. It ends like this.

"We must have beginner's mind, free from possessing anything, a mind that knows everything is in flowing change. Nothing exists but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped. Before the rain stops we hear a bird. Even under the heavy snow we see snowdrops and some new growth. In the East I saw rhubarb already. In Japan in the spring we eat cucumbers."

How was it? You might have felt. "Cucumbers!? What cucumbers?" Yeah, that really made me blow as I was so immersed in this book and all of a sudden the book ended with きゅうり. Besides, the best season for cucumbers is Summer!

Anyway, I love this ending passage. It shows an insane level of sincerity and sensibility to the world as it goes. The flow of the Mind and the cycle of the Earth. The sadness and gratefulness towards being are miraculously crystallized here.

So, this was my selection of a memorable passage. What is yours?

M1 Tetsuya Hasegawa